Summarize, in 3-4 pages, this assignment that provides information from Weeks 1 to 4.In addition to the work you completed in the last four weeks, yourassignment should also: Include an introduction a

Running head: CONFLICT HANDLING 0

Conflict Handling

Betsy Quinones

NSG4029—Leadership in a Diverse Society

Week 3, Assignment 1

July 15, 2020

Introduction

Change is a vital aspect of the nursing process. It is a challenging process for nurse leaders to organize and lead a change in their organizations. The process is challenging because of the complexities of the ever-changing healthcare industry. For nurse leaders to be effective in their leadership, they must familiarize themselves with various change theories and the framework of each theory. Understanding the framework of each theory provides a firm ground for every change that a nurse leader wants to initiate. Every change process has its obstacles and there is a need to understand them and handle them constructively. One of the main obstacles to change is conflict. It is, therefore, vital to understand various ways of handling conflicts as a leader so that you can bring all the members of an organization together and work as a team. Working as a team requires people to be united and that is only possible if the conflicts are resolved effectively.

Change theories, conflict theories, and leader as a change agent

A nurse leader has to ensure that the day-to-day operations of various units in the organization are rapidly evolving and changing according to the healthcare system. A nurse leader is often described as an agent of change and that means that he or she has to be responsible for the success of various projects in nursing units (Pawl & Anderson, 2017). However, literature shows that nurse leaders are still struggling with change despite the number of times they are involved in change activities. Change agents have both informal and formal power to direct change processes in nursing organizations. Such leaders have a responsibility to identify the rationale and vision of the change. A nurse leader influences staff behavior towards change by understanding the various challenges encountered in the change process and how to handle them. Nurse leaders face a significant number of changes that require them to adopt new ways of thinking for effective leadership. They work closely with other healthcare providers to figure out essential changes in the organization that can improve patient care and work process. As such, leaders should have the necessary skills to influence human behavior, intelligence, decisiveness for effective changes (Cleary, West, Arthur & Kornhaber, 2019). Influencing human behavior needs nurse leaders to understand change theories and conflict theories so that they can adopt the right change theory and solve conflicts effectively when they arise during the change process.

One of the widely used change theory is known as Lewin’s change theory. This theory is popular in nursing and it consists of three stages. These stages are unfreezing stage, moving stage, and refreezing stage. According to this theory, change is determined by the presence of resistant and driving forces (Doll, Cornelison, Rath & Syme, 2017). A driving force refers to the change agent who pushes other staff members in the right direction of change. A resistant force refers to the group of staff members who are opposed to the proposed change. For change to be successful, the driving force of the theory should be stronger and dominate the resistant force. There is also a modification of Lewin’s theory which is adopted as Roger’s change theory. This theory is based on five stages of change. These stages include awareness, interest, evaluation, implementation, and adoption. Roger’s theory is applied when long-term changes are required. According to Roger, a change becomes successful when a change proposed and opposed earlier by nurses in a given unit is adopted later because of the positive information they acquire from nurses who adopted the same change (Doll, Cornelison, Rath & Syme, 2017). Lastly, there is the Spradley’s change. Spradley’s theory is an eight-step process based on Lewin's theory. The steps include recognizing the symptoms, diagnosing the problem, analyzing alternative solutions, selecting the change, planning the change, implementing the change, evaluating the change, and stabilizing the change.

Since changes are never smooth due to the presence of opposing individuals, change agents should have conflict-handling styles. Developing conflict handling skills needs one to master various conflict theories. There are four major conflict theories in nursing namely social conflict theory, organizational conflict theory, social exchange theory, and social cognitive theory. Organizational conflict theory highlights conflicts between various entities within an organization (Cleary, West, Arthur & Kornhaber, 2019). Conflict can be between departments, individuals, or organizations. Social conflict theory refers to the conflict that exists between people who are motivated to act according to their desires without considering the desires of the others. Nurse leaders have to know the possible causes of this conflict and put in place measures to avoid them. Social cognitive theory is based on conflicts that occur in a social context of learning. Social exchange theory states that conflicts arise when there is no give and take balance in a relationship. Therefore, leaders have to drive a give and take balance in various nursing units that they lead to avoid conflicts.

Conclusion

The three concepts are related and a nurse leader should understand their relationship so that they can lead changes successfully. A nurse leader is the change agent in a nursing facility. To push a change in the organization, he or she should combine the knowledge of conflict theories with change theories so that the best change approaches are adopted and the right conflict resolution measures are taken according to the type of conflict encountered during a change process.

Cleary, M., West, S., Arthur, D., & Kornhaber, R. (2019). Change Management in health care and mental health nursing. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 40(11), 966-972.

Doll, G. A., Cornelison, L. J., Rath, H., & Syme, M. L. (2017). Actualizing culture change: The Promoting Excellent Alternatives in Kansas Nursing Homes (PEAK 2.0) program. Psychological Services, 14(3), 307.

Pawl, J. D., & Anderson, L. S. (2017). The use of change theory to facilitate the consolidation of two diverse Bachelors of Science in Nursing programs. Nursing Outlook, 65(2), 233-239.